Mitt Romney In the Lead For Fundraising

July 15th is the end of the first quarter for raising campaign funds. Although not every campaign has submitted their financial reports, Mitt Romney is outperforming all of the other 2012 competitors when it comes to raising cash for the 2012 primary election.

Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who has assembled the field’s most robust fund-raising operation, will report raising less than $20 million for the Republican primary during the fund-raising period ending on Thursday, an aide said. That would put Mr. Romney just slightly ahead of his own total during the same period four years ago, when he was new to presidential politics and competing against a more crowded and competitive field.

Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota will report taking in less than $5 million, said a person close to his campaign, some of which may be earmarked for a future general election campaign and unavailable to Mr. Pawlenty in his battle with other Republican candidates. Even if it were all primary money, that would be far less than any of the first-tier Republican candidates raised during the early stages of the 2008 race, and underscored the difficulty Mr. Pawlenty faces in sustaining a strong challenge to Mr. Romney and the rest of the field.

Jon M. Huntsman Jr., the former American ambassador to China in the Obama administration, entered the race so recently that he is not required to report his second-quarter fund-raising until the fall, one of his campaign aides said. But the aide said Thursday that Mr. Huntsman had raised about $4.1 million for the quarter, though a substantial portion came from his own fortune.

Representative Ron Paul of Texas, in an e-mail solicitation to supporters on Thursday morning, said his campaign had raised about $4 million and hoped to raise more by the end of the day. 

Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain, Rick Santorum have not released their first quarter numbers but it is predicted that they will all raise less than $10 million. Once candidate is expected to do well and that is Michelle Bachmann: 

Rep. Michelle Bachmann has been quite successful in the past raising money. She was the House incumbent who raised the most funds in the 2010 election bringing in $13.2 million. She also brought in $1.7 million in the first quarter for her congressional account. Her campaign points out she however has only been in the presidential race for a few weeks. However, she can transfer the approximate $2.9 million in her House account to her presidential campaign. Her campaign won't say whether those funds were already moved. It is not expected she will report her total until right near the July 15th deadline.

When it comes to raising campaign funds, the only real challenger that Mitt Romney has is President Obama: 

Showcasing the importance of the early fundraising totals, both Obama and Romney were in Pennsylvania on Thursday to drum up cash, hoping to pad contributions in the final hours of the financial quarter -- the fundraising figures must be reported to the Federal Election Commission by July 15.

In a somewhat ironic position for a multimillionaire, Romney acknowledged his status as a financial underdog on the campaign trail.

"We're not going to raise anywhere near that kind of money," he said of Obama's fundraising prowess after touring a shuttered metalworks in Allentown.

And the Obama campaign, hoping to meet funding expectations, made a series of last-minute pushes Thursday for donations.

"Come next fall, people might not remember this date -- or make the connection between the strength of our campaign then and the steps we took in these early months. But anyone worth their salt in politics knows tonight is one of the most important tests we'll face as a campaign this year," said Obama Campaign Manager Jim Messina in an email to supporters Thursday.

To stay competitive with Obama, Mitt Romney has created an innovative way to raise money by letting you set up your own donation page on his website. A few days ago,  I signed up and I have created my own donation page in which I have a fundraising goal of raising $250 for Mitt Romney's campaign. Please pitch in $5, $10 or even $20 to help Mitt Romney build up the massive war chest needed to defeat Barak Obama.